Once upon a time, there was a magical forest bursting with color — trees of deep purple, flowers of gold, a river of clear blue, and a sky that changed color every hour.
But one day a great storm swept through, and when it passed, every color in the forest had vanished.
The trees turned grey. The flowers faded to pale white. The river became clear as glass, and the sky turned a dull, colorless white without even a single cloud.
The animals of the forest grew sad. Birds stopped singing. Deer stopped playing. Even the wind blew in silence.
Word of this reached the village at the edge of the forest. A girl named Sii heard the news and decided to go into the forest alone.
She brought with her a small box of watercolor paints — a birthday gift from her grandmother, the one possession she treasured most.
Deep in the forest, Sii found an old, pale grey tree slumped against the ground.
“How can I bring the color back?” Sii asked.
“It must be real color,” the old tree said softly. “Color that comes from the heart, not just from a box.”
Sii looked at the paint box in her hands, then opened it. She dipped her brush and painted red onto the petal of the nearest flower.
The red seeped into the petal and slowly spread. The whole flower turned bright red, and then the flower beside it changed too, and the next one after that.
Sii kept painting — green for the trees, blue for the sky, deep indigo for the river, fields of golden-yellow flowers.
But the more she painted, the less paint remained in her box.
When only a tiny bit of color was left, only half the forest had been restored.
Sii looked at her nearly empty paint box, then at the half of the forest still black and white, and made a decision.
She poured every last drop of paint into the river.
Every color dissolved and flowed with the water, spreading throughout the whole forest, and instantly color returned everywhere — green, red, yellow, purple, gold, every color at once, more beautiful than before.
Her paint box was completely empty.
Sii sat and looked at the beautiful forest, her heart full even though her hands were empty.
Birds began to sing. Two deer ran past, tossing their heads. The old tree straightened up, sprouting fresh green leaves.
“Thank you,” the old tree said. “You gave the thing you loved most for the sake of others. That is true beauty.”
Sii walked home empty-handed, but with a full heart, knowing that the most beautiful picture she had ever painted wasn’t on paper — it was the living forest she left behind her.
Moral: Giving up what we love to bring happiness to others is true human beauty. The joy that comes from giving is always greater than the joy that comes from keeping.
